7-inch ASUS Fonepad With Intel Atom CPU Leaked

05.02.2013

Until 2012 Asus has been known as a company that delivered only high-end tablets, just like Apple and Sony. However, since the partnership with Google from which resulted the popular Nexus 7, Asus has learned that you don’t have to come up only with expensive products in order to make money. Plus, if you have a good marketing and come with a decent device at a lower price, the profit can be bigger in amount.

With this in mind, Asus has a new strategy, to release cheaper tablets just like the Nexus 7 and win the crowd within the emerging markets. So far, there are two handsets that will reportedly be announced at MWC this mouth, the MeMo pad 7and MeMo Pad 10. However, it seems that the company doesn’t to stop at just these two tablets, as word has it that it will show off another one at the Mobile World Congress.

Yeah, there will be one ore 7-inch tablet from Asus, and the most interesting aspect will be its name, Fonepad K004. Plus, the device will be powered by a SoC developed by Intel, company which has made its return into the mobile business. Of course, no official confirmation has been made by Asus, but I don’t see why the rumor can’t be real. Unconfirmed news about an Intel processor was leaked before, although the tablet was known only by its codename ME371MG. The Fonepad branding appeared later in Postel Indonesia’s database.

I say that the Fonepad is interesting, but also pretty weird. Not sure if you know, but Asus has already used this two-word combination, only backwards (the Padfone and Padfone 2). The truth is the two products did not enjoy a big success when they were launched, but people still know about their existence. To use a similar branding is strange, at least. Nevertheless, let’s leave the marketing to the company itself.

When you look at the specs sheet, it looks pretty nice for a supposedly cheap tablet. It will reportedly come with a 7-inch IPS display with a pixel resolution of 1280 x 800, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 3MP camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS support. Also, it will run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

As for the Intel chip, I’m not really sure that it fits in this picture. It has been rumored that the Asus Fonepad will come with the new Atom Z2420 “Lexington” chip, but it doesn’t seem to go well with the other specs.

When Intel talks about the CPU, it presents it as a battery saving one and which is meant for emerging markets. There are two possibilities: either the company is just saying fancy words about a rather poor product, or the chip indeed is the real deal. The later seems more true if we think about the leaked price of the tablet which is around $256. The figures are not exactly what people think of when it comes to a cheap 7-inch tablet.

Other leaked information says that the Asus Fonepad will also offer calling facilities, hence the inappropriate branding. Still, this does not excuse the thing what I call marketing: to release a product so similar with other two when it comes to naming.